Off Road Driving, Training and Reviews

According to rumour (well we wouldn’t let the lack of any hard facts stop us commenting!) the Defender only has until about 2010 before it becomes obsolete.

So what will be the replacement?

At the moment, the defender is still going strong, but with it’s tin can atop a couple of girders construction, it simply won’t be able to keep up with modern safety requirements. If you roll one it simply squishes, crumple zones are designed into the thing you hit and side impact protection is limited to the mobile phone you have in your trouser pocket. The fact is that for all of it’s amazing ability, it really isn’t a 21st century vehicle.

The Discovery 3 is pretty impressive, but the fact is that with all of the technology it is too expensive for real off-road drivers to throw off cliffs on a daily basis. This means that all of the companies who used to use Land Rovers to do their work are now looking at to Toyota or Mitsubishi for their workhorse.

With most of the pick-ups on the market having drum brakes at the back, there’s still nothing like a Landy for driving through a couple of feet of water. Clearances on most of the competition are still not a patch on the Defender and Land Rover themselves have yet to suggest what they are going to do.

Surely it isn’t beyond modern technology to build a simple 4×4 which can be worked hard, be reasonably efficient and not cost the earth?

The classic Defender is still a flagship for Land Rover, so how will they cope when they become just another luxury SUV manufacturer in a world where fuel and insurance prices are increasing by the month?

Any new owner of the Land Rover brand will need to ensure that at the core of their business is the real deal - the off-road vehicle that can cope with every eventuality, or be modified simply to do so.

It needs clearance - the 90 has amazing clearance - still unrivalled by any other vehicle in the world.

It needs to be simple and intuitive - 2 gear boxes and a big lever that locks a centre diff, there’s no reason to change this.

It needs disk brakes all round to cope with dragging wheels through mud, sludge and silt laden water.

It needs to be available in single cab, double cab and station wagon bodies.

For the sake of safety, lets have ABS - and make sure it works down to 1mph.

If you feel you need to - put traction control on it, but let us switch it off when we need to.

Please - build us a 4×4 that we can use.

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Once upon a time, many years ago there were twin 4×4s - one lived on her farm in Britain, one in Spain.

They grew apart, they grew up, and they had children.

We know one of those children well - the Land Rover Defender.

Meet the cousin!

Santana used to make Land Rovers under licence, and like the Defender, this is a development of the old Series III.

Unlike the Landy, the Santana has selectable 4×4 and in low range there is no centre diff (I don’t think there’s one at all - a big consideration if you’re looking to buy one for towing). The low 1st gear is very similar to the new low 1st on the 2007 Landy, and is wonderful for crawling down rocky slopes. The 2.8l Iveco engine seems solid enough - another van engine for another van - you can see why Landy looked to the Transit for their engine can’t you.

The other big difference is that the Santana is still on cartsprings. Leaf springs all round do mean that the load capacity is huge - loads more than an unmodified Defender. Unfortunately it does mean that on road it feels like it was designed around the same time as the Morris Minor (……oh yeah, it was!). You can only get a long wheel base (110 equivalent) at the moment, though there is a SWB in Spain.

Off road it’s great to be honest - in cross axle situations the articulation doesn’t seem quite so good as the Defender, but I may have been imagining that - in all other respects, it seems slightly better than the TD5 and pretty much on a par with the 2007.

And considering that it’s about £3 grand cheaper - why wouldn’t you consider it?

Well there’s a couple of reasons - first and foremost of these is that it’s not a Defender. There really is an emotional attatchment for me which would make me feel like I was cheating somehow!

From a logical point of view - spares and repairs are less simple due to parts (though not impossible, everything is pretty simple). Some reports suggest that the transfer box is not the most robust thing in the world, and others suggest that neither is the front axle, but realistically - how many of us have ever bought a brand new Defender and had no problems with it?!

So if you need to lug heavy weights across country - it may be worth looking into. For the price of a soft roader  you can have the real thing.

With a bit of pressure they may even bring in the very good looking short wheel base version this year!

Update - June 2009:

Santana themselves have struggled to break into the UK market - probably due to the emotional attachment we Brits have for the Defender, so despite a few people in the know and some small commercial contracts, they have stopped distributing here.

However, they are due soon to be re-introduced under the Iveco Massive badge, promising a wide range of vehicles, including the much awaited short wheel base!

As soon as Iveco actually bring one out, we will let you know if there’s anything new going on.

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Mmmmmmm, new landy……..(drools!)

This really does look like a nice beast - the guys have decided not to muck about with the legendary capabilities of the Defender, so the Ladder chassis and classic styling stays. Under the bonnet however is a new 2.4l common rail diesel, (the same one that is in the current Ford Transit - a proven workhorse, though how it will react to dubious fuel in the less civilised areas of the world is not yet known) this replaces the TD5.

With 20% more torque, and power across a wider rev range, this looks like a great improvement over the old one, and with 6 gears (lower 1st for slower decents and more power walking uphill, as well as a good starting gear when towing heavy loads, and a cruising 6th for more comfort on road) it looks like the Defender is set to stay at the top of it’s field.

The dashboard (which previously looked like it was nicked out of a late 80’s metro) has been updated, with a new airflow system to hopefully sort those foggy window days. All seats will now be forward facing (definitely safer, and hopefully conforming to Borda and Lantra regs), with the facility to fold them away.

The basics are all there, and once the electrical problems are ironed out this should be an excellent vehicle. The anti-stall and gear ratios in the new beast will just make working with it simpler and easier, reducing stress on the drive-train and driver!

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Well, we’ve had a play in it, and it’s lovely.

On road the engine pulls effortlessly up through the gears and speeds, giving you confidence that now you could actually try to overtake that slow moving mobility scooter with ease. For those of us who thought the TD5 was good, this is another jump in quality again. Unfortunately, there is even less likelihood that you can look after the engine in this one yourself - you’ll have to go back to the 200/300tdi’s before you can muck around with them yourself (and even some of the 300’s came with an electronic brain - so beware).

The gearbox feels good, and the 6 gears do help on road, though it’s not hard to stall if you try to set off a bit sharp in second. Off road however you start to notice a real difference. The low first gear is even better than the low first in the Santana (Land Rover’s estranged Spanish cousin), with slow controlled descents, and so much pulling power that you have to literally stand on the brake pedal to stall it.

The transfer and diff lock lever has moved slightly, though after a minute you don’t notice this, and the action is still the same - intuitive and sensible.

The suspension and shocks have not changed much, and considering that the one we had a play in was brand new it felt very composed over some of the roughest terrain our course could throw at it. Hopefully the shocks and coils will wear well, and it’ll feel just as competant after 5 years of use.

So now for the niggles!

Why in heaven’s name didn’t they lengthen the seat rails for the driver? There’s a good amount of room in the back seats (this isn’t a luxury bus - it’s a Land Rover), so losing a little so that the operator can control the pedals more comfortably would surely help those of us over 6′ tall who have to do a Mr Bean in order to drive them.

They’ve also got rid of the Land Rover signature vents in the front - something which should help with the foggy morning problems, but realistically was part of the joy of a Land Rover - simple solutions to simple problems. Though the new dash looks nice enough (in a slightly flattened way), it feels like a complex solution to something that wasn’t really a problem. Now if your fan packs up you get no airflow, whereas before all you had to do was speed up a little!

Other than that - it’s pretty darn nice. I’m sure that someone could easily adapt the seat rails if needed, and I’m not going to worry too much that the water no longer sloshes through the vents on long deep wades. My only worry is what will happen next - we all know that this is a halfway redesign to comply with EU regs, so what will happen in 2010 - will we still have the simple workhorse the Land Rover was initially designed to be, or will we have a retro styled 4×4 people carrier/van that is the worst of all compromises?

So far the improvements have on balance improved it - we hope it stays like this.

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The Bowler Nemesis looks like a Range Rover Sport from the front, but in reality is only about 40% Land Rover - the rest is Mr Bowler’s phenomenal space frame with JE Engineering’s amazing drivetrain (4.2l V8 tweaked to 510bhp when it’s running the right magic juice!).

www.bowler-offroad.com is the official site, but you can find loads of info around and about - as well as a couple of impressive (listen to the engine!) videos. Bowler don’t put their prices on the site, but rumour has it that you’d need to fork out around £120k for one of these Paris - Dakar prepared beasties - A good chunk over and above the price of the Wildcat, but who’s to quibble when you’re looking at toys as serious as this!

This is never going to be a sensible car for anyone, but damn does it look nice!

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The Range Rover is probably the height of all round driving excellence. The car itself really will get you anywhere that almost any car will go, and it will do it in supreme comfort. Buy a bulletproof one and you can just about stay immune to the whole world inside one - something that many owners delude themselves they are already.

It will get you anywhere. It will go on for years (as long as you can cope with the electrics and suspension maintenance). The engineering is groundbreaking. The comfort is awesome.

How do you justify it though. We’re talking about £60k and 3 tonnes of machinery - who can make a sensible case for owning one of these? Someone towing all day, every day? Possibly. Someone moving 5 people regularly across inhospitable terrain with a need to keep them comfortable (realstically how often do you need to keep your suit crease free while traversing a desert?)? Unlikely.

So who actually buys them. Well the people who buy them new are the fashion brigade. Very rarely do you get a farmer who can afford to buy a brand new Rangie - he’ll buy it in a few years time when it has lost more than half it’s value and he can afford it, or he’ll buy a disco instead. The people who buy them justify them by saying they have kids to shift around - my parents moved themselves, 2 kids and a dog in wonderful comfort in a Citroen GS estate (slightly smaller than a Ford Focus), so that isn’t justified. They say that they feel safer - but everyone outside the car may be less safe - pedestrians hit by a 4×4 are likely to break a hip rather than a leg - and at 20 mph a 4×4 collision with a pedestrian is often fatal or disabling. Even inside the car is less safe, the false sense of security engendered by a Rangie makes you feel invincible leading you into greater risks than you would take in a Ford Ka. And if you don’t feel safe in a Ford Ka - you’re not driving well enough - take some advanced training and you’ll find out how to drive properly.

The only problem I have with the Rangie is that I think it is amazing - but I’d never suggest buying one to anyone. If you’re off roading for real, those leather seats will never take the mud - buy a Defender. If you need a comfortable road car - buy a Beemer. If you need a Tow vehicle that will cope on and off road - buy the Disco.

Lovely - but leave them to the accountants.

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Bowler (www.bowler-offroad.com) will build you just about anything you want for a price I suspect. However for those of us with dreams we might one day accomplish - their entry level Wildcat may just about be within reach. Bowler don’t shout about prices, but a brand spanking new prepped toy is rumoured to be around £80k. Good 2nd hand versions shift for around £30k after a few years (and god knows what abuse). You can find a few “Tomcats” around (the Wildcat’s predecessor - often built by enthusiasts with the best of components then sold at a tremendous loss!) for not much more than a quality second hand defender.

If you’ve got a few grand to spare (prices are dependent on exactly how you want your machine set up), and a large disused open cast quarry to race around in they’d be the toy of the century.

Land Rover are now backing Bowler’s Wildcat race team.

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The chavmobile, the lottery winner’s dream (surely you’d have more imagination - wouldn’t you?), the footballer’s wives taxi.

Unfortunately, despite the excellent provenance and engineering, this is all this is ever going to be. Too expensive to be used until they’re about 10 years old (when they’ll be great for the rich guys to mod!), and too big and cumbersome to be a real car this is another project which seems to have fallen flat.

The stupidly large petrol engines (with a combined fuel economy of 17.8 mpg/15.9l/100km!) do a phenomenal job of propelling over 3 tonnes of tank around at pretty impressive speeds, but are expensive, inefficient and in the real world - pointless.

The diesel engines are slightly better, but we have to say that this beast is never going to be the eco-warrior’s friend.

Off road it is actually surprisingly good, something that owners will tell you - they’ve seen the videos - they saw Clarkson on Top Gear, but would they let you show them what THEIR £50k would do when asked? Not a chance in hell.

On road, the Discovery chassis (is it really a rangie at all,  or is it a disco you’ve just shelled out all that cash for - just with a few luxury bits added on?) holds the road reasonably well, but that’s because of all the gizmos. As soon as the car is about to topple - the hydraulics prop it upright again. As soon as it wants to go straight ahead at the corner instead of around it, the traction control, EBA, EBD, ABS, DR etc kick in and do all of those things that are needed to be done because you’re driving a tank and not a car.

The question I would then pose would be: why not buy an M5 instead? If it’s only going to be a road car - the M5 is faster, smoother, more luxurious, more reliable, cheaper to run, safer to other road users and the occupants. It just doesn’t have the Sport Tractor’s ”ned factor” as my friends in Scotland call it.

Apparently Richard Branson threw one over the barriers on a motorway and was so impressed that his family survived he bought them for his key employees. The point he may have missed is that only a 9 foot tall tank like this would topple over the motorway barrier in the first place. False sense of security - the main reason why 4×4 owners are actually statistically MORE likely to be killed or seriously injured on the roads.

So with it’s uses being limited to wandering across a field at a gymkhana, or driving up the treacherous gravel path to the mock tudor mansion in Cheshire this is one car I would remove from the line up entirely if I was to be the new owner of Land Rover.

Guess what though - this is the one car which is keeping Land Rover profitable.

Long Live the Range Rover Sport (and the footballers who fork out for her!).

Find out what Clarkson thinks of the Overfinch RRS.

(If you want to review the RRS yourself, feel free to post a review in the comments - a couple of links are allowed. Reviews will be moderated as impartially as possible.)

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Catchily titled the LR2 in the US, the question for the Freelander is - what is it for?

If you want a small 4×4 then to be honest, this is too big and too luxurious for true off road driving - spend a lot less on something that you can throw around a bit more. If you want a big car then for goodness sake buy a car, not a tractor.

As a smallish tow car it isn’t bad, and as a luxury car that can actually get across a wet field (very well indeed incidentally) then it’ll be better than a BMW, but to be honest - how often do most of these leave the tarmac?

The pseudo (or “intelligent”) 4×4 system will cope with wheelslip, the terrain response will help even the most clueless to get themselves moving where otherwise they might just throw mud around, and the articulation will help with those high kerbs. Lets face it though - there’s a limited market for the practical capabilities of this car.

If you live and work in an environment where snow is a regular problem (unlike the UK where that 1 day a year that the gritters can’t get through really should be taken as a holiday), then the slippy diffs, traction control and ABS really will be useful.

So, wet grass, snow, ice. Wouldn’t it be cheaper to keep a quad bike and a nice family saloon? We’ll let you decide!

So what do we suggest? Well next time guys - make it smaller. Make it simpler. Make it cheaper. Make it lighter.

(If you want to review the Freelander yourself feel free to post in the comments section. A couple of links are allowed, and comments will be moderated as independently as possible.)

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The Land Rover Discovery 3 (or LR3 in the US), is a beautiful vehicle and much maligned, certainly here in the UK as a result of being mainly owned by housewives!

The new Disco is an excellent load lugger, crew carrier and copes with most terrain in some serious comfort. The interior is more refined than the older models, and really does start to compete with the Rangie - in fact the new Range Rover Sport is based on it (why didn’t they call it the Discovery Sport? - They’d never be able to charge £45k for it!).

The impressive thing is though that it can actually cope off road, clearance, wading and all round chugging through mud is pretty good as long as you know what you are doing. If you don’t you’re also more likely to escape, and you’re less likely to wreck your new toy through ignorance. Beware those who are upgrading from a Disco 2 or Defender though - the suspension means that underbody clearance is completely different.

For companies who need their employees to go off road or tow as part of their work, the auto version is becoming more and more popular because everything is done for you, and you won’t cost the company money in repairs - apart from the inevitable ones from having a Land Rover and using it.

If you’re intending doing some serious off roading, be warned - soaking the inside will be expensive, body panels aren’t as easy to repair as the Defender, and the electrics are far more complex!

One request though - if you’re buying this to haul the kids around - buy an MPV. This is a 3 tonne industrial and agricultural machine. It will cost you a fortune to run in fuel (though it is much better than many 4×4s), maintenance, insurance and tax, and it will draw criticism from all quarters. All 4×4s have a terrible safety record when considering other road users - especially children, and due to the false sense of security they engender you are statistically MORE likely to have a serious or fatal injury if you’re inside one (Churchill insurance suggest 4×4 drivers are 25% more likely to be involved in an accident. Admiral insurance suggest 4×4 drivers are 27% more likely to be at fault in an accident. The RAC say “You could blame some of the higher accident rate for 4×4s on size. Drivers who are new to these cars might not realise how wide they are. There is also psychology involved - if you feel more secure inside a big 4×4, you might drive with less care than you should.”. Don’t be a fashion victim - if you need a car, buy a car - not a tractor.

I’ll still admit to wanting one though!!!

Read what Clarkson thinks of the Disco.

(If you want to review the Disco 3 yourself - post it in the comments section. A couple of links are allowed. Reviews will be moderated as independently as possible.)

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